There's a reason why Uttarakhand is called 'Devbhoomi' (or GOD'S own land).

Life was going pretty great by the grace of THE ALMIGHTY, and it still is awesome, but there was something missing. And, what I feel and believe is that, whatever you achieve in your life, and wherever you reach, there would always be something missing, cause that's how we're supposed to be. All of us are mere souls (but very important and precious), created by HIM, travelling and experiencing and exploring life in our own ways. Each of us have got a really specific and unique path, so now we'll just get back to the path and I'll tell you all how this trip was.

I've been to different parts of Uttarakhand previously, and covered Mussoorie, Dehradun, Sahastradhara, Lansdowne (alongwith Tarkeshwar Mandir), Almora & Binsar, Karnaprayag, Chopta and Tungnath. All my trips have been amazing, and given me different experiences. And everytime, whenever I visited Uttarakhand, I felt the depth and the presence of OUR CREATOR always.

Now, this trip was my very first one with my wife. We had a lot of discussions on: Where to go? What would fit into our budget? Which place would be more peaceful and calmer?

And after a lot of discussions, we mutually decided to head towards Mussoorie. {Now, as I've named this blog as, "There's a reason why Uttarakhand is called as 'Devbhoomi' (or GOD'S own land)", maybe you'll to feel the intent of my writing by the end of this blog}

So, we checked the busses available on Goibibo, and booked 2 tickets for us. Our bus was from Kashmere Gate at 11 pm, which was supposed to drop us directly as Mussoorie by 7 am the next day. We boarded our bus, took the LORD'S name, and began our journey.

We stopped at a Dhaba around 1:30 am, had some tea and snacks, & then again resumed our journey for Mussoorie. We slept after that in the bus, and what happened to the driver, only he and GOD knows. He dropped us at 5:30 am, at an end point in Mussoorie till where the busses were permitted to go. There some taxis were standing, and the taxi drivers were asking passengers who deboarded from the bus, that where they were supposed to go as the remaining distance taxis were taking. But this wasn't included in the bus fare, so here there was an additional fare. Anyways, I went towards a driver and asked him to drop us at Hotel Grand Valley, as we had our bookings made already. He agreed but said he won't be able to drop us exactly at the hotel as it isn't allowed for taxi's to go to that place, but he said that he'll drop us at a point from where the Hotel was just 5-7 minutes walk. Both of us agreed, and readily hoped into the taxi.

The taxi driver took around 10-12 minutes to drive and drop us at our drop-location (and that was Mall Road). We walked all the way, the shops were closed, the breeze was fresh and chilled, and the vibe was just awesomely unexplainable. We went towards our Hotel, checked-in into our nice room and rested for some while, so that we could get fresh and explore the place.

Around 10 am I woke up, and asked the room service if they could arrange a scooty, or if they could share someone's number who could bring the scooty. In 5 minutes, they arranged a guy's number (Ankit : 063975 70672) who gives scooty and bikes on rent. He's a gem of a person, without any security or proof, he delivered the scooty at our Hotel in half an hour, and said on the call, "Bhaijee, araam se ghoom ke aaiye, enjoy kijiye, paise aur documents aate rahenge." i.e. "Brother! Go, have fun, and enjoy, Money & Documents can come later on."

What I've felt in all my trips till now is, people on the mountains are so welcoming, generous, open-hearted, and trust anyone & everyone so blindly, that you actually get to see and feel humanity over there. (But exceptions are always there. Positive alone cannot be positive, there needs to be negative too to maintain the equilibrium).

We checked what were the nearby visitable places, and headed towards Lal Tibba (for its Sunset Point). The roads, the vibe, the air, the nature around us, everything was just mesmerizing. Everything seemed so perfectly aligned. We had a chance to experience the Sunset. Though, it was a bit cloudy that day, but still, when you're in the nature, it just engulfs you within itself, and gives you a broader spectrum to know and experience the real 'YOU'.

After spending some soothing and peaceful time there, we decided to head back to our hotel, as it was getting dark. We parked our scooty, and thought of exploring the Mall Road. After spending a few hours there, shopping & eating, both of us decided to head back to the hotel and rest, as we had a lot of things to explore the next day.

We already had our plans made in our minds to visit some nearby Waterfalls, but the plans which GOD had made for us were entirely different than what we thought.

We woke up around at 9 am, and my wife asked me to order the breakfast, in the meantime she went to go and get ready. When she came back, our breakfast had also come, both of us enjoyed the food, and then she asked me to go and get ready. I was about to go only, but I heard something outside, and felt as if the weather was slightly changing. I just thought to open the door and have a view of the outside. To our surprise, it was raining! At this point, I got so much laid back, that I said to my wife, "Now I'll get ready when the rain stops, cause we won't be able to go anywhere if it would be raining". Both of us agreed to this, and we sat in our hotel room, listening songs, talking, chilling and enjoying our time together.

After some 40 minutes or so, my wife asked me check the conditions outside once again. Now, to our surprise again, it was not just raining, but it was raining alongwith hailstorm. I thought it would be really difficult for us to get out today. Though we were not able to go and explore anywhere, but none amongst us were being disheartened of that, and both were enjoying the weather and the nature. After approximately an hour and thirty minutes past, this time when we checked the outside weather conditions, the moment of joy was outbursting in both of us. It was snowing!
For many, it might be a very normal or a usual kind of an experience. But, for both of us, we didn't had words to explain our feelings. We were just thankful to THE ALMIGHTY, for letting us experience this together. Though, I have seen snowfall a couple of times previously, everytime I feel really blissful and thankful to THE ALMIGHTY for HIS abundant blessings. But, for my wife, this was a really amazing experience, as she was experiencing snowfall first time in her life. And that again got very special, as both of us were sailing in the boat together.

Now I could go on, and on, and on, telling you this, and that, and everything, but then, we just enjoyed the snow, and went inside our room as for this day, GOD'S plans for us were to know each other more, rather than going, exploring, and getting lost in the nature, trying to explore just ourselves more.

In the evening, when the snow had stopped, we checked the outside, everything was covered in a thick blanket of snow. We thought, at least we could just visit some nearby shops at the Mall Road, else this day would feel very wasted. So we got ready, and when we started for outside, the roads were completely white, and slippery as if someone has poured oil all-over. Still we managed to walk the way without falling, just holding each other's hands, carefully keeping the foot forward. The weather had got extremely cold, and the vibe was still awesomely amazing. We had our meals, and asked some shopkeepers, how the weather conditions would be for the next day, as if it remained the same it was no point staying here. But the shopkeepers said, that according to the forecast, tomorrow its gonna be sunny all day, and we could travel and visit places from 11 am onwards. We had a sigh of relief, thought the next day we could visit either Company Garden to get some photos clicked, or else visit some nearby Waterfall. We slowly headed back to our hotel, and rested for the day to prepare ourselves for the next day.

Today, as the forecast said, it was sunny, but to our surprise, some unplanned things were waiting for us down the line. Our trip had already been extended by a day, we were supposed to visit few places yesterday, and take a bus back for our home. So today, when we woke up around at 8:30 am in the morning, my wife told me that we'd check-out today itself from the hotel, leave our luggage at the reception, and explore some nearby visitable places. After that, we'll had back, pick our luggage from the reception, take a taxi till Rishikesh, as the forecast said that it was supposed to snow the next day again, and there won't be anything left to explore if it would be snow everywhere. At this time, I was like What..?! Visiting Rishikesh was not a part of our journey, both of us never thought of it, but it somehow came across her mind. Both of us got excited about the plan, quickly we began to search some decent accommodation on booking.com and came across Indian Culture. The pictures which they showed on the website were quite amusing for us. We made our bookings, quickly got ready, had our breakfast, and left to explore Mussoorie a little more.

The roads were yet slippery, we were pacing forward really carefully and slowly. After 10-15 minutes of walk, we got a rickshaw, we asked him to drop us at Company Garden, but he replied back saying, that he won't be able to take us directly till Company Garden, due to the bad condition of the snow-blocked roads. But he said that he would leave us at a place from where we could get a taxi for the way ahead. Both of us agreed to it.
Now we reached the taxi stand, asked the taxi drivers to take us till Company Garden, to our surprise, not a single one of them agreed. Everyone said the same thing, that the condition of roads is very bad. At this point of time , both of us were slightly disheartened, as we were not able to go anywhere. My wife wanted to get some photographs clicked at some scenic locations, and something came across like a flash in my mind. Near the Camel Back Road, there are some shops where people roam around to get some customers, for getting their photographs clicked in traditional pahari attire. I just held her hands, and asked her to follow me, and we both reached the exact place which came in my mind. Both of us got so delighted, seeing 3-4 guys, asking to get photographs clicked. Without delay, I reached to a guy, asked him to click some photos of both of us, but not in the pahari attire. Now I could see a smile back on my wife's face. I wasn't able to control my happiness seeing her smile that way. We got some nice pictures get for our memories, and after a while started heading back towards our hotel to get our luggage.

After picking up our luggage, we went towards the taxi stand, booked one till Rishikesh at 5 pm in the evening, and by 7:30 pm, we were at our accommodation in Rishikesh. I won't go into the details of our way from Mussoorie till Rishikesh, that I think one should go and experience on their own, but yes, when you are in Rishikesh, the calmness, the tranquility, the peace, and that connect to Oneness, when you're in Rishikesh, is absolutely amazing. There is something in its wind! Very fresh, very pure! No hatred, only love. Maybe I went too much into the zone. Maybe one should experience this on their own.

Anyways, Indian Culture is basically a hostel for travellers, you can say its a paradise for travellers. There are common rooms with bunk-beds, and there are private rooms. The food is amazing, and the hospitality of the owners is really amazing. You feel like home over there. A common play-room with carrom, chess, ludo, table tennis, UNO, and dart-board. A little place for bonfire, a tree-house as well. 3 cute dogs. Maybe alot more, go there and explore yourself.
So, both of checked-in into our private room (i.e. for Rs. 1800 without breakfast including GST, at Jan' 2020), had our dinner, and rested for the night.

A new day, a new beginning, some more hidden unplanned things waiting for us!
So, I was visiting Rishikesh for the very first time, and till now it was treating me really well (Though you don't get non-veg and alcohol there, still there is no need for one to find and desire them. There is a wind of satisfaction here. This is what I felt, maybe one could have a very different opinion than mine, but that's totally fine). Since, Rishikesh was not a part of our journey, but it became, so we thought of exploring it, and using it, in the best fruitful manner. Our stay here was only for the night, and we were supposed to check-out at 11:30 am, to go and visit some nearby places. So we got fresh, had our breakfast, checked-out of our room, kept our luggage at the reception area, and went exploring the city.

So, we started from the main market which starts right after one gets out of the parking lot. From there, we walked till the Laxman Jhoola. There were a lot of monkey's over there (Kindly do not carry any food items with yourself while you're there, and if so, keep everything in your bagpack. Keep everything safely in either your pockets or the bagpack. Else, monkeys might just snatch something from your hands. Saying so as I saw something right in front of my eyes.)
We crossed the Laxman Jhoola, and from there decided to walk all the way till Ram Jhoola. On the way we found some little markets, few cafés, a village, a peaceful path, some langur, couple of temples, and some eateries. All the time the weather was really sweet and pleasant. Though my wife had previously visited Rishikesh a couple of times, she told me, but she never was able to experience Rishikesh this way. The weather, the vibe, the stay, the food, and maybe also, my companionship; everything she told me was just blissful. Both of us really enjoyed all that time together, and are really thankful to THE ALMIGHTY for letting us experience it together.

From Ram Jhoola, we decided to head back slowly, enjoying and each and every moment together, a bit more. We reached back to Indian Culture, thought what next to be done, so first of all checked for the buses available. We booked the one at 11 pm, at this point of time it was just 3 pm. We thought we still have 8 hours to spend, so she told me that we could head towards Tattv Cafe, which was nearby, had amazing ambience, great food, A-Class hospitality, and splendid view from its balcony. Without much delay, we began for our next expedition, uphill towards the cafe. After taking a couple of turns, we reached the cafe. As explained by my wife, the cafe was meeting all the parameters which she told. We spend some time there, relished good food, nice music, and great company; with an unexplainably amazing vibe.

Aftsr spending few hours there, we decided to head back and pick our luggage. On our way, we booked an Auto or Vikram, which would pick us at 9:30 pm from Indian Culture. Came back down, spend some time playing table tennis and carrom, enjoying the rain and the vibe for a last time in this trip at Indian Culture. We were enjoying each and every single moment which THE LORD was blessing us with. After having our dinner at 9 pm, we checked everything for one last time, picked our luggage, and moved towards the Auto. The Auto driver dropped us at our drop location in 40 minutes or so, we waited at the bus booking office. It was continously raining since morning, Rishikesh left a very undeniably sweet memory in my heart, mind, and soul. We took our bus at 11:40 pm, it was late by 40 minutes, which is a very usual thing in the mountains. But, we reached back our home, one time, with a lot of sweet memories, and experiences, and having much of gratitude to THE LORD for HIS abundant blessings upon each of us.

Go.. Explore.. Escape.. Get Lost.. And Experience.

Bon Voyage..!